Tarizon: Desert Swarm Read online

  Chapter 5

  Local Buzz

  When Dolly got to work at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday for the evening shift, the café was bustling with customers. As soon as the cashier spotted her she pointed in her direction. “There she is.”

  Dolly frowned. “What’s going on?”

  “You didn’t see the morning paper?”

  “No. I don’t subscribe. I usually read it during my breaks at work.”

  “Well, most of these folks are here to see you.”

  “Me? Why-”

  Dolly was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. She turned around to see who it was and was surprised to see the Mayor, Jeb Russell and his wife Eloise.

  “Mr. Mayor, Eloise.”

  “Hi, Dolly. Read about you in the paper today.”

  “You did? I haven’t seen the article yet.”

  “You and Jack found something pretty mysterious, huh?”

  “Oh, yeah. We did.”

  “Do you think aliens landed there?” Eloise asked.

  Dolly chuckled. “Nah. I doubt it, but you never know.”

  “I heard the government was going to take over the site,” the Mayor said.

  “Yeah, you heard right. The Department of Defense is coming in next week, I think.”

  “Were you scared camping out there during the night?” Eloise asked.

  “No. The place is pretty much deserted now.”

  “What about them walls that just keep on growin’? the Mayor asked.

  “Well, we didn’t camp too close to them, so I don’t think we were in any danger.”

  “Where exactly is the site?”

  Dolly hesitated. She knew Jack wanted to keep the exact location secret and the newspaper reporter had been blindfolded.

  “I’m not sure. Jack drove me out there and I really didn’t pay that much attention as to how he got there.”

  Dolly excused herself and went into the kitchen. Mona smiled when she saw her.

  “Well, look who the cat brought in.”

  Dolly laughed. “Are all these people really here to see me?”

  “Most of them are, but don’t think you’re going to get a bonus or anything.”

  Dolly laughed. “I didn’t think I would, but that’s a thought.”

  Mona frowned.

  “Just kidding.”

  Dolly put on her apron and went out into the dining room to start taking orders. At every table she went through the same question and answer session about the alien landing, the missile silo or the cathedral that God was raising in the desert. At her break, she found the newspaper and read the article.

  Miracles in the Desert

  Is it possible that aliens landed right here in Inyo County? Did the government build a missile silo without informing the local population? Or, is God raising a cathedral in the desert to herald the Second Coming of Christ! These are some of the questions that citizens will be asking in the wake of an extraordinary discovery by Jack Carpenter, a longtime resident of Shoshone, a little over two weeks ago. After falling asleep at the wheel, his truck went off of Highway 127 and rolled six or eight times down a steep embankment to the valley floor below. Miraculously, Jack walked away from the wreck, confused and disoriented from a concussion he had suffered, but otherwise okay.

  Normally a victim of this type of accident would sit tight and wait for help to come, but for some strange reason Jack was drawn away from his vehicle and found himself wandering in the desert without an ounce of water. Whether this was due to his confused state of mind or the guiding hand of God, I’m sure will be the subject of much future debate. But the fact is Jack stumbled upon something quite extraordinary, a phenomenon that might have never been discovered to the end of days had fate or God not intervened.

  Out in the desert, many miles from any habitation, Jack found a building under construction. A building that he would soon discover was alive! Although that seems impossible, Jack documented his discovery with photographs that conclusively prove that this structure, whether it is to be a missile silo, a cathedral or an airplane hangar, is building itself at the rate of 5" per day. If you do the math that’s over fifteen feet per month! So, no matter what it turns out to be, within a few months it should be finished, unless it just keeps rising to the heavens.

  Unfortunately, this reporter was not allowed to have the exact location of this site and had to agree to be blindfolded to get the story. But after seeing the structure and an adjacent circular landing site right out of a science fiction novel, there is no doubt it will be quite visible to anyone flying overhead. But you better hurry as I have been informed the Department of Defense is about to take over the site and may soon be restricting the airspace around it.

  For the past few weeks Jack has only allowed a select few to visit the site including his girlfriend, Dolly Watson, who you can find waiting tables at Mona’s Café in Independence most afternoons, his son Jake, and Professor George Palmer, who teaches at Deep Springs College in Lone Pine. There’s been a few of the Professor’s students allowed out there too, to help him do his research and Randy Perkins of the Park Service. Soon the site will be crawling with federal agents trying to figure out if aliens have landed and if this living church is a threat to our national security or a gift from Almighty God.

  Tim Whitfield

  Photos by Andy Anderson

  Dolly set the newspaper down and swallowed hard. She was starting to realize her life was about to drastically change and she didn’t know if that was good or bad. It was exciting for sure, but she didn’t know if she wanted celebrity status. She’d always been a small town girl and liked it that way. She was also worried about Jack and how all this would affect their relationship. Privacy was important for two people while they were trying to figure out if they were in love and she feared they wouldn’t be seeing much of that in the weeks to come. Then again, if they survived the ordeal their relationship might even grow stronger. Dolly got up and went back into the fray.